TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Local Terre Haute resident and community leader Santhana Naidu was invited by Indiana Senator Todd Young to attend the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address at the United States Congress.
Having lived nearly 25 years in Terre Haute, Naidu has become a significant member of the community through participation in various local organizations and institutions throughout the years.
Since 2004, Naidu has been a member of the Terre Haute Rotary Club and was the 2019-20 Governor of Rotary International’s southern Indiana clubs. Naidu has also held various roles and positions with the Terre Haute Human Relations Commission, the Union Hospital Foundation, the Indiana Health Fund, the United Way of the Wabash Valley, Wabash Valley Art Spaces, and the Wabash Valley Community Foundation. Naidu is currently the Vice President for Marketing and Communications and is the Board Chairman for Wabash Valley Goodwill Industries.
With so many roles in and ties to the community, Naidu accepted the invitation to represent the Terre Haute community, and the Indian community in the area.
“I was honored to get this invitation and attend especially since it was kind of special for me being from India, but I’ve lived in the US for over 25 years and especially most of it in the Terre Haute community and so I was honored to attend on behalf of and represent all the Indian community in Indiana,” Naidu said. “I feel very blessed and grateful for the opportunity to not only work at an institution like Rose but also for their support in the local community. I’ve been blessed to be part of this community that’s been so welcoming over a couple of decades,” Naidu continued.
Naidu’s career at Rose-Hulman also allows him to continue working in foreign relations through his position while also promoting the programs offered at Rose.
“It was kind of, I feel like, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to go to on behalf of Rose. We have a good amount of Indian students at Rose-Hulman that have graduated in the past, a lot of them lived here, several have come back to India. Next year we have over 10 students coming from India, so it was kind of nice. My role is Vice President for Marketing and Communications and so one of the things that we’re especially proud of is the opportunity for us to bring students from all around the country and all around the world that are passionate about STEM to Wabash Valley,” Naidu explained.
The opportunity and efforts to recruit students from outside the United States within Naidu’s career share similarities with his attendance at Prime Minister Modi’s address to the United States.
“Coming from someone like me that was born and grew up in India to come to a community like Terre Haute that I’ve called home and be a transplant, but how the community has embraced me and the opportunities I’ve had here, and the friendships, is definitely special to me and that was kind of similar to what Modi addressed in the Congress — the similarities and the friendships that the two countries have and the cultures,” Naidu said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to U.S. political leaders on June 22. For more details, check out other articles on Modi’s address to Congress.
